WizIQ to add 3 lakh users by 2008-09 end

16 Apr, 2008, 2032 hrs IST, PTINEW DELHI: WizIQ, an online educational platform for offering the facility of virtual classrooms today said it will add about three lakh users by the end of 2008-09"We plan to add around three lakh users, 10 per cent of whom would be teachers by the end of this fiscal," WizIQ CEO Harman Singh told reporters here. He said penetration of internet would increase in the country as the services would be available at cheaper cost, increasing the number of users of the platform to three lakh. However, Singh did not divulge the current number of users of the WizIQ.

"The usage in India is lukewarm currently but it would get better with the increase in the number of internet subscribers and reduction in cost of internet services. State-owned BSNL is expected to reduce the fee charged for internet services to zero in 2009," he said. Quoting TRAI figures, Singh said there are about 20 million broadband internet subscribers in India. On the future of online education in India, he said virtual classrooms would be the upcoming educational platform as real estate is touching sky-rocketing prices in the country. "Real estate prices are very high in India. In order to offset the cost and make educational services affordable, virtual classroom is the next big thing. This can make the real estate cost zero," Singh said

Virtual classroom is a live and interactive platform wherein teachers and students interact with each other through an audio-visual format with digital benefits, he explained.